Arabic Teachers’ Professional Identity Crisis in Malaysia: Lived Experiences and Challenges
摘要
Today, excellence of teachers is seen in not only partaking in the teaching but also performing and accomplishing more and beyond or “going the extra mile.” Arabic teachers, facing various challenges, notably personality crises arising from ability in imparting knowledge to shape the next generation toward outstanding human capital, must overcome it. These tribulations escalate among religious vis-à-vis Arabic teachers. To identify, understand and gauge their professional identity crisis, the researchers employed qualitative methodology with explanatory sequential design (ESD) through basic analysis of the data obtained via Google forms. This document analysis method in the form of interview questions formatted into a Google form structure was used due to time and distance constraints plus locality of these respondents. The sample size included eight respondents among Arabic language teachers with more than 10 years’ service experience. Arabic language, as a subject often deemed trivial and blasé by the community, requires capabilities over prolonged periods of teaching and learning. In tandem, Arabic teachers have insufficient settings and opportunities to establish new innovations at par with science and technology of today’s era. Due to their limited knowledge, these Arabic teachers are looked down upon as obscured and inept. Therefore, various thoughts need contemplation and engagement to elevate them to be resourceful in teaching, especially with the application of artificial intelligence. Thus, this will raise their dignity and credence to a higher level on par with the growth of digitalization as well as future evolution.